Tearing Paper

Hello Everyone!

I am still very new to scrapbooking, and I love the look of torn paper on pages. I tried to do some paper tearing on a practice page, but it didn't work so hot! LOL It didn't look at all smooth. Also, I really like the look of the white showing on the torn colored sheets. SO my question is, is there a technique you all use to tear paper, or do you just do it and as you do it more it gets easier? Any tips would be much appreciated!

Holly
http://thehaleybug.com/

The direction that you tear and which side of the paper you are tearing on make a big difference in the look you get. Say you had a piece of paper and tore it from top to bottom, then in another spot on that same paper you tore from bottom to top, the look of the tears should (notice I say should ) be totally different. Different brands of cardstock and paper will tear differently so you just have to experiment and rip up some paper until you find what makes the look you want. I played with scraps until I figured out how to get the rough look that I like. For the white edges I think you need paper that is not colored all the way through or one of the 2 colors on one sheet (like the Double Dipped line). You can take a Q-tip dipped in water and draw where you wish the tear to go and then tear it. If you want a real precise tear this works great. I have heard of people that use a ruler or a straight edge to guide their tears also.

Jeanne

Just like the person who posted above, I think you just have to test out the papers that you have and see what creates the look that you want. Sometimes when need the tear to be really precise, I will just use decorative scissors that leave a tear pattern in your paper.

I agree with everyone certain papers just don't tear well I go slowly and it seems to work for meand when tearing vellum I use a straight edge otherwise you get those nasty pointy tears.
Kathy

ditto. also, when paper's made, it's made a certain way and has a grain if that makes sense so tearing one way, say left to right vs top to bottom will yield a different look as well. it will be more straight going from side to side instead of top to bottom i believe. but just have fun with it and see what happens. the white inside will come from cheaper papers too. bazzil is solid color so stay away from those if you don't want that. also, just hold your one hand close to the edge that you are tearing against to get a certain edge. HTH

------------------
Melissa-AKA Mommadipatch